Bane (Memphis #1)

by D H Sidebottom

  Frank shook his head with exasperation, rolling his eyes at Camron’s poor attempt to woo me back.

  “I tell you what, Cam, let me sleep on it.”

  Camron’s eyes lit up. He’d been expecting a point-blank refusal. But, well hey, I wouldn’t give him that satisfaction. Let him sweat, and wonder, for a while.

  Snatching my hand up when he reached for me, I held myself still, the need to jump back from him overwhelming. “Thank you.”

  I nodded, forcing a smile.

  “You’ll let me know as soon as you’ve thought about it?”

  “The very minute,” I replied.

  He bent, bringing his face to mine, but thought better of it and dropped a quick kiss to my head. “Okay. Don’t take too long.”

  Shaking my head, I groaned in annoyance when the front door closed behind him.

  “Tell me what you ever saw in that idiot,” Frank asked as he took the chair Camron had vacated.

  “Believe it or not, he has a big dick.”

  He mused over my words, sliding his eyes to the door where Camron had just fled through. “Seriously?”

  “Yeah, nine and a half.”

  “Well that’s a shock.”

  I chuckled to myself and finished my coffee. “I’m in desperate need for a shower and my bed, Frank. Seems as though you’ve been ordered to attach yourself to me, please feel free to take the sofa, or there’s a spare bedroom to the left of the bathroom.”

  “Thank you.” He gave me a wide grin. “I’ll take the sofa.”

  “Well there’s blankets in the cupboard at the top of the stairs.”

  He gave me a nod and I bid him goodnight as I dragged myself up the stairs.

  The shower was good and hot, my aching joints grateful of the beating the water pummelled them with.

  “I want you on my team, Esther.”

  That had definitely come as a shock. Shit. I knew I owed neither Rik, nor my father, anything, but once again I was being pulled between the two. In my teens, my dad had hated Rik, his background and the fact that he came from a different life to us forcing us to meet secretly for fear of my father’s wrath. And, yet again, I was in the middle of a dispute I wasn’t even sure mattered anymore.

  Yet, seeing Rik again had forced forward so many emotions, feelings that I hadn’t allowed myself to feel for such a long time. He had been my best friend. Except, since as far back as I could remember I had always wished he’d been more, that he had seen me like he had all the other girls our age. Even at twelve I had been in love with him.

  It had taken many years for my heart to stop pining for him. And now here he was, his eyes practically eating me up every time he looked at me.

  “Fuck. You’re so beautiful.”

  I shivered as his soft voice whispered into the loneliness of my soul, the thud in my heart unwelcome but predictable.

  But was it just a ploy to bring me onside? A game to him? A trick to get to my father through my weakness?

  Could I go against my father? Break our agreement and instead turn everything on its head? Yet, Daddy had never had a problem crossing me.

  My mind hurt and I squeezed my eyes closed, forcing out all the questions. I was exhausted, my brain as lethargic as my body.

  I had a decision to make. And one that tiredness would only make harder.

  Yet, as I slid under the duvet and switched off the light, I already knew which way I would go.

  And so did both Rik and my father.

  Sixteen

  Esther

  “Where the hell have you been?” Kay flapped as soon as the department door locked behind me.

  “Ill,” I replied with a fake confused frown. “Did Rik not tell you?”

  “No,” she grumbled, her feet catching up with me as I made my way down the corridor.

  Everything felt different now, and I couldn’t help but shiver. My eyes narrowed on everyone, my brain quickly backtracking to see if I knew them, if they’d been a previous Sparrow employee or a ‘plant’ Rik had obviously brought in.

  I jolted when a blonde woman stepped out of a door directly in line with me. Her eyes widened on me but she smiled widely, as if she was relieved. “Oh, you’re back.”

  Once again she wore tight fitted trousers and a figure hugging tee. How had I missed it before? Jesus, I had been trained with the best, like her.

  She smiled, reading the unspoken conversation between us and gave me a subtle nod. “Knox, uhh, Brandon is in but Bane is out until early afternoon.”

  “Thank you…”

  “Grace,” she introduced, holding her hand out.

  “Welcome to my team, Grace. I’ll need an update as soon as possible.”

  “But I can fill you in, Milly,” Kay butt in, her voice soft as if she was hurt.

  “Oh, I was referring to the new employees, Kay, of course you need to fill me in with everything else, over coffee.”

  She didn’t miss my blatant hint and rolled her eyes. “Fine, pastry?”

  “Always.” I grinned, blowing her a kiss when she headed back down to the foyer.

  “You okay?” Grace asked quietly, her eyes probing but still warm.

  “Honestly?” She nodded. “Like I have a tornado inside my skull. It’s all gone tits up and I haven’t the foggiest what I’m supposed to do.”

  She regarded me for a moment, and then sighed. “You’ll do what we all do. You’ll go with it, right up to the end.”

  “Yeah,” I scoffed.

  She started to walk away and I quickly stopped her. “I was wondering.” I lowered my voice and she stepped back towards me. “I need a sparring partner. I’m a bit…rusty.”

  Her pretty face lit up and she grinned. “I’d love to.”

  “Thank you!”

  “After work,” she murmured as Tony stalked down the corridor towards us. “I’ll also show you the ropes and introduce you to the rest of the team. They’re dying to meet you.”

  “Really?”

  “Sure, it’s not often we get a newbie.” Her eyes glistened with mischief and I groaned.

  Narrowing my eyes, I whispered. “Don’t even think about it!”

  She laughed, and nodded to Tony when he came to a stop beside me. “Catch you later, Milly.”

  “Well you’re all friendly,” Tony commented, quirking a brow at me.

  “If you can’t beat ‘em…”

  He mumbled something under his breath and started walking beside me. “Thank God you’re back, that piranha in your office…”

  “Piranha?” I chuckled.

  “Milly, honestly, she’s pure saccharine with incisors.”

  “Ohhh,” I laughed. “Caroline likes you!”

  He waved a hand in the air. “She likes everyone!”

  “With a dick!” I added, twisting my lips in amusement.

  He screwed his mouth up and then blinked in thought. “Actually, she likes everyone. Tits or dick, she doesn’t discriminate.”

  “Well that’s good to know,” I declared as I stepped into Rik’s - our joint - office.

  “Seriously, Milly,” he garbled on as he followed me. “I caught her with her tongue down Hilary’s throat on Monday and her legs wrapped around Rik’s body yesterday.”

  I stiffened, just as Brandon looked up from where he was sat reading something at Rik’s desk. His eyes shot to mine and I swear he winced with Tony’s revelation.

  “Right.”

  “She’s not fussy who…”

  “Haven’t you any work to do, Tony?” Brandon barked, making us both jump. “Or are you just here for the gossip?”

  Tony physically flinched and nodded quickly. “Sure, sorry.” He left as swiftly as he shut up and I stood fighting the nausea that his disclosure had suddenly brought on.

  Brandon watched me for a while, before he tipped his head to the side and his mouth lifted into a grin. “I’m glad you chose wisely, Esther.”

  “Just because I’m here doesn’t mean I made the right decision.”

>   “True. But I honestly didn’t think you’d take up Bane’s offer.”

  “I’m not here for Rik,” I stated as I fired up my PC. “I owe it to Geoffrey to find out what the fuck is going on here.”

  He nodded, accepting my honesty. “Bane will fill you in on the job. In the meantime,” he paused and smirked. “I’m glad you decided to go back to skirts. It just isn’t the same to come to work when you’re wearing trousers. Makes my heart bleed, it does.”

  I sighed, shaking my head. “You do know I have a mean right hook.”

  “I believe you.” He nodded seriously. “But you see, you’ll soon learn that just makes it all the more exciting for me. Love a woman who’s a fighter in the bedroom.”

  “And in the workplace?” I asked, logging in to the system and slipping on my glasses, peering over the top of them at him.

  “Even hotter,” he sighed happily, watching me as he took a gulp of his coffee. Grimacing, he placed the cup down. “Eww, cold. And I’m so thirsty. I’m so very thirsty, Esther.”

  His probing stare went straight through me and I blew out a loud breath. “As I told your partner, I do not make coffee… for anyone.”

  “But it’s me.” He fluttered his eyelashes, giving me a soppy pout. “Surely I deserve a coffee made by your amazing talented hands.”

  I screwed up my face in disgust. “Is that supposed to be some sort of seduction?”

  He pondered my question then shrugged. “It wasn’t but it’ll be good to use in future.”

  “Hell give me hope,” I uttered quietly as Kay knocked on the door and walked in with two takeout coffees and a brown bag. The scent of almonds and fresh pastry hit my senses and my stomach grumbled accordingly.

  “Ooh,” Brandon murmured, his nose twitching when the same aroma filtered up his nostrils.

  I dived out of my chair. Kay’s eyes widened and she stepped back in horror when Brandon and I both made a grab for the goods.

  He had snatched both from her before I even got near her.

  “You arse!” I grumbled when he lifted both high in the air, his towering body leaving the goods well out of my reach. Although my boobs had grown a little since puberty, my height had remained well below par, and at five-foot-two I was seriously hindered against his lean six-foot-four. There was no way, without climbing him, that I could retrieve them. And I couldn’t really give Kay a show of my talents. According to her, I was a regular twenty-six-year-old woman who occasionally visited the gym with her and slobbed out alone at weekends in front of X-Factor with wine and pizza.

  My weekends were mine. They always had been. Kay, and previously Lisa, would beg me to join them for nights out and day trips to the beach, but the only way I had kept my sanity for the last eight years was driving three hours to the small, but unknown warehouse I had purchased when my frustration had seen me breaking down in front of Geoffrey. He would never have understood my need for release, so I had kept my other home a secret. And, if I was honest, it was good to have that something that was just mine. I’d never had anything of my own before. Growing up, I hadn’t had a normal upbringing. Our family home was shared with a select few of my father’s men, and women, and privacy was a luxury I’d never had until I bought the old warehouse.

  As if reading my mind, Brandon jumped up on to the desk and dived into the almond croissant, taking a large gulp of my coffee. “Oh no,” he mocked. “You should speak with personnel about that disability of yours, Es- Milly. You might be liable for some sort of benefit on top of your salary.”

  “Disability?” I growled as I fisted my hands to stop myself jumping him.

  “Little leg syndrome.”

  “I swear,” I snarled. “I’m going to make you pay.”

  He laughed, blowing me a kiss before he savagely tore off another piece of pastry with his teeth.

  Someone nudged me and I swirled around. Frank stood watching us with an exasperated look, but in his hands were coffee and a donut. “Here. Before I’m having to wipe Knox’s blood off the windows.”

  “I owe you a blowjob, Frank.”

  Brandon spluttered on a mouthful of coffee and jumped down. Practically thrusting the coffee and half-eaten croissant at me, he grinned excitedly. “I saved you some. And mine is Starbucks, not some cheap coffee-shop rubbish.”

  “Which McKayla bought.” I glared, tearing off a mouthful of the donut. My stomach sighed in appreciation and I thought back to when I had last eaten, frowning when I couldn’t remember.

  My phone rang and I swallowed down the donut. Still glaring at Brandon, I didn’t look at the screen as I answered. Not that it would have made much of a difference.

  “Hello?”

  There was a stagnant pause and the hairs on the back of neck prickled in awareness.

  “Es?”

  The room rushed at me with the sound of his voice and I stumbled back. Frank’s hand shot out to catch me, his fingers curling around the top of my arm to stop me from falling when my knees buckled and the coffee slipped from my hand.

  My heart beat so hard that my breastbone actually creaked with the pressure. My hands shook and I forced myself to tighten my grip on the phone.

  “Will?”

  Seventeen

  Esther

  Eight years earlier

  I sighed appreciatively, the feel of Will’s long fingers sliding through my hair relaxing me. The late afternoon sun was warm but the heat had been dampened by the heavy rain that still lingered in puddles on the patio.

  “I love you, Esther. You know that, right?”

  I frowned at the sound of sadness in Will’s declaration and lifted my head from his lap to look up at him. “I know, and I love you. Is everything okay?”

  He gave me a sad smile but didn’t answer my question, his eyes leaving mine to fix on the horizon, the stretch of pink in the sky advising of another hot day tomorrow.

  “You need to know that these last two years, they’ve been the best. Because of you.”

  “Will?”

  He smiled down at me and pinched my nose. “Ignore me, I’m being soppy.”

  Anguish settled through me and I placed my head back onto his lap, his fingers instinctively finding my long blonde curls once again. “After,” I paused to wet my dry mouth. I concentrated on the darkening sky and thought about my words carefully, knowing how upset Will always got when I brought up the subject we both avoided. “When you found me that day…”

  “Es…”

  “No, Will, I need to say this.”

  He sighed and I felt him tense beneath me but he gave me my moment.

  “I was at such a low that I really didn’t think there was any other way. I missed Rik so very much. I was so alone, and so… desperate for something, anything. I was numb, and young, and very stupid.”

  “You weren’t stupid. Just lost, Esther.”

  I nodded. “Maybe. But, well.” Heat flamed my cheeks but I forced out the words. “The thing I remember most is feeling your hand slip into mine. I didn’t know you, hell, then you were just some random stranger that walked in at the wrong time, or the right time, whichever way it worked out. And I remember feeling your warm breath on my cheek. I was so cold, frozen through.” I shivered instinctively, the memories more real than I liked. “And you said, ‘Hold the fuck on, honey. I’m here.’.”

  “I remember,” he whispered, his voice hoarse with emotion. Reaching down, he tipped my face back until I was looking at him. His smile was radiant, as always, and as if contagious, I beamed back at him. “And you held on, Es. You held on, you fought, and fuck, you made it, honey. You’re strong, beautiful and so full of life. Don’t you ever lose hold of that. Even when I’m gone.”

  I stiffened, and frowned. “Gone? Where are you going?”

  John came around the corner from behind the house. He stalled and I watched his gaze fix sternly on Will, and he gave an almost invisible nod.

  “Hey, baby,” John whispered as he leaned down to kiss my forehead. Lifting me from
Will’s lap, he sat and pulled me onto his knee.

  Once again, he and Will shared a look and I narrowed my eyes on both of them. “What’s going on?”

  Will shook his head and planted a fake smile on his face. “Nothing. I have to go to the bathroom.”

  “Pass me that bottle, please, baby,” John asked, nodding towards the half empty bottle of water on the side table.

  Shifting, I reached for it, and when I turned I stilled when I caught John quickly handing something to Will. “What the fuck is going on?” I growled, my gut twisting with anxiety.

  John tutted and gave me a sly look. “Shush, it’s someone’s birthday soon. Surprises aren’t surprises if you spoil them.”

  “Oooh.”

  Will gave me a wink and disappeared into the side door of the house.

  “Aren’t you even going to give me a hint?” I pleaded, giving my boyfriend the biggest puppy dog eyes I could manage.

  He smirked, but shook his head. “You’ll have to wait and see.”

  I moved quickly, dropping into the other chair when my father’s voice boomed across the garden. If he knew I was sleeping with his second then I dreaded to think what would happen to John, and me for that matter.

  He stalked over to me and John, his glare hard and questioning. There was a feral and cold look in his eyes that made the beat of my heart stutter. “Where is he?” he growled at John. “You were given an instruction, and it wasn’t sunbathing with my fucking daughter.”

  “What’s going on?” I asked for the umpteenth time that day.

  Daddy’s gaze finally shifted to me. He appeared to struggle for a moment, a rare expression of compassion on his face. But as soon as it had materialised, it vanished, once again leaving behind the cold man I knew so well.

  “Meet me and John in the basement.”

  My shoulders sagged, but I held in the frustrated breath I wanted to blow out. “Sure.”

  John closed his eyes for a second and then followed my father like the good little lap dog he was expected to be.

  I wasn’t in the mood for a job today. Yesterday had been tough. I’d been tracking an adversary of my father’s and it had been a hard one. The bruises planted haphazardly around my body tingled as if to remind me how strenuous the kill had been.